MY STORY: My Prostate Cancer Journey

About one in eight men will get prostate cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer isn’t more common in gay or bisexual men than in cisgender men, but you might have some concerns and you should know the signs. Here is one man’s story…

By David-Elijah Nahmod

“We found some cancer,” said the doctor. My heart skipped a beat.

“Now don’t worry,” he continued. “The good news is that the cancer is Grade 1, the earliest stage. This stage is treatable.”

Well, that was a bit of a relief. But it’s still a shock to the system. It’s still cancer. I thought of all the relatives I’d had who had died of various types of cancer, especially my Uncle Joey, who had throat cancer. Uncle Joey was 38 when he died. He looked 80. Is that what was going to happen to me?

Mine is prostate cancer, a very common cancer among men in their 60s. I’m 68. “One in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime,” said Dr. John Lee, the San Francisco oncologist who’s going to perform my radiation treatments. “However, 60 per cent of the men diagnosed are over age 65, with the average age of diagnosis at age 67. Men under 40 have a very low rate of prostate cancer.”

I was told that I had three options. One was to not treat the illness and just have it observed. Grade 1 prostate cancer is very slow growing; it would take years to spread. I could easily live 10 to 15 years without treatment, according to Dr. Mikhail Regelman, the urologist who diagnosed me. In 15 years, I’d be 83. I immediately dismissed this option, as I didn’t want to end up like Uncle Joey.

My second option was surgery to remove the prostate, and my third option was six weeks of radiation. I chose the latter because it’s painless, non-invasive and requires no hospitalization. All I had to do was show up every afternoon for the treatments, which would each take five minutes. Other than that, I was able to live my life normally. Dr. Lee said that chances are 92 per cent that I’d be cured after the radiation treatments.

I found out that I have the disease through a simple blood test, a PSA test, done through my primary care physician each year.

“The PSA blood test is a measure of the amount of prostate cancer,” said Dr. Lee. “Normal prostate tissue produces a low level of PSA, 1.5–2 for those under 40 and up to 4.0 when 65. The lower the number, the more likely those patients are cured. Conversely, the higher number correlates with a worse outcome.”

My PSA level was 4.25, which meant there was a possibility of prostate cancer. My primary care doctor sent me to a urologist, who ordered a prostate MRI. The MRI showed a suspicious shadow on my prostate and so a biopsy was performed. The biopsy wasn’t fun. I was given local anesthesia in my butt. The doctor then proceeded to cut off tiny pieces of my prostate to send to the lab. Even with the anesthesia, this was painful, but it’s better to know and to get it treated.

Then all I had to do was get through my radiation treatments. My first treatment was August 22 and my last was on October 2, Monday through Friday. I had been told to expect side effects during the radiation treatments, and I’m thankful that my side effects were minimal. One of the side effects I was told to expect was fatigue, but I never once felt tired during the treatments. I did get a burning sensation when I urinated, which I asked Dr. Lee about. He said this was normal during prostate radiation treatments and that the symptom will gradually clear up now that the treatments are behind me.

My next step is to get another PSA test to make sure the treatments worked. That will happen in December. Dr. Lee said that right now my prostate is inflamed from the treatments, which could elevate my PSA levels, possibly giving a false positive were the PSA test to be done now. In December, the inflammation will have healed and I’ll get an accurate reading. I’m hopeful and confident that the news will be good. 

As I face this, I feel a sense of obligation to share my story so I can tell other men ages 60 and over, to get that PSA test every year. Remember, one man in eight will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. If you’re the one, you want to catch it as early as possible. Catch it before it begins to spread and while it is still treatable. Catch it before it begins to impact your health.

Prostate cancer statistics*

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer among Canadian men (excluding non-melanoma skin cancers). It is the third leading cause of death from cancer in men in Canada. It is estimated that in 2024:

• 27,900 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer. This represents 22% of all new cancer cases in men in 2024.
• 5,000 Canadian men will die from prostate cancer. This represents 11% of all cancer deaths in men in 2024.
• On average, 76 Canadian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer every day.
• On average, 14 Canadian men will die from prostate cancer every day.

For more information on prostate cancer, visit cancer.ca.

_{*Canadian Cancer Society}

DAVID-ELIJAH NAHMOD is an American/Israeli dual national of Syrian descent who currently lives in San Francisco. His eclectic writing career includes LGBT and Jewish publications, and monster magazines. When he’s not writing, he can often be found snuggling with his cat Russell while watching mid-20th century horror films.